Russia to introduce higher investment ceiling for digital financial assets

The Central Bank of Russia has proposed to increase the maximum amount of money ordinary Russians can put into regulated digital assets.

The change comes in a draft circular updating the regulator’s requirements for tokenized assets that Russian investors can acquire legally in the country.

Russia to introduce higher investment ceiling for digital financial assets

The Bank of Russia is trying to raise an annual limit on digital asset purchases for non-qualified investors to 1 million rubles (more than $12,600 currently), according to a draft directive amending rules for offerings in this strictly regulated market.

The document, released for public consultations, concerns “digital financial assets” (DFAs) as described in Russian law. These are usually tokenized real assets issued by CBR-authorized platforms on private blockchains, the Russian biz news outlet RBC noted in a report.

The category also includes “digital rights,” or digital representations of monetary claims and investor rights, including foreign digital rights (FDRs) approved for circulation in the Russian Federation. The definition covers some cryptocurrencies, mainly stablecoins.

The Bank of Russia’s proposal expands access to DFAs for ordinary Russians as it aims to increase the limit, which currently stands at 600,000 rubles (approx. $7,600). The monetary authority said it’s acting in response to requests from participants in the developing DFA market.

Both citizens and companies will be able to invest in DFAs, but the CBR divides them into three groups – qualified investors, investors subject to the annual limit, and investors facing no restrictions, with the latter two being non-qualified investors.

Russian companies to buy digital assets without restrictions

According to the draft, legal entities will be permitted to acquire DFAs without any limits, even if they are not recognized as qualified investors. The goal is to allow businesses to more actively use digital financial assets, including in trade which has been affected by Western sanctions.

Non-qualified investors will be granted access to a wide range of DFAs such as those based on shares, bonds, foreign currencies, precious metals, oil, and index instruments, up to the specified 1 million-ruble limit, RBC detailed.

At the same time, the Bank of Russia admits only “highly qualified” investors to decentralized crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC). To be accepted as such, private individuals would have to prove annual income of at least 50 million rubles (over $633,000) and investments in securities or deposits exceeding 100 million rubles (almost $1.27 million).

The CBR updated its regulations for FDRs last month, introducing stricter rules for foreign digital rights recognized as digital assets entering the Russian market. According to one of the requirements, these FDRs should not be linked to securities issued by organizations based in “unfriendly nations.”

The Russian central bank also emphasized issuers and payment processors should not be able to freeze such assets and that the FDRs must not certify rights to receive cryptocurrencies that are prohibited in Russia. In practice, these conditions close the door for popular stablecoins such as USDT and USDC.

The new rules were unveiled after in March, Tether blocked 2.5 billion rubles’ worth of assets in wallets hosted by the sanctioned Russian cryptocurrency exchange Garantex. The coin trading platform has been accused by the U.S. of assisting criminals, laundering money and violating sanctions against Russia.

Following Tether’s move, the government in Moscow went as far as to announce that its finance ministry is considering issuing a Russian stablecoin, similar to the USDT in design but pegged to a different fiat currency, not the U.S. dollar.

The Central Bank of Russia will be accepting suggestions and comments on the proposed regulations for digital financial assets until June 15. They will enter into force 10 days after the official release of the circular, the regulator said.

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